Agenda Welcome Staying on track 3 focus areas leading up to September 25 th Stories from the field Share your success Sabrina Castillo Voter Assistance Manager NYC Campaign Finance Board Alice Yi Austin TX Chapter President Asian Pacific Islander Americans Public Affairs Association (APAPA)
Welcome Kim Wyman Washington Secretary of State Steering Committee, National Voter Registration Day
3 Focus Areas Leading up to September 25 th
By now, you should have Team Goals Location
Over the next two weeks... Promote Prepare Recruit
Promotion
Getting the word out Get your posters up w/event details Leverage social media & influencers Use #nationalvoterregistrationday and #MidtermsOnMyTerms Put out a press release at least 1 week in advance Visit NationalVoterRegistrationDay.org/partner-tools/ for social media assets, press releases, and Communications Toolkit (updated)
Preparation
NYC Votes NYC Votes is the nonpartisan voter engagement initiative of the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) We conduct voter registration, education, engagement, and advocacy throughout the city of New York.
Prior NVRD dates NYC Votes is consistently one of the top organizations throughout the country for the number of new voters registered on NVRD. We work with our partners to hold registration events across the city, registering thousands voters in one day. In the past we have enlisted college campuses, city agencies, corporate companies, and community based groups to join us on NVRD since 2015.
Our plans Our goal is to make voter registration accessible to all New Yorkers on NVRD. We will kick off the day by hosting 2 Voter Jams with Hot97 at Brooklyn College and the second with WBLS radio station in Brooklyn. We ve enlisted all 213 NYC public libraries and all City University New York campuses to participate and celebrate NVRD. NYC government agencies like Dept. of Probation, and Dept. of Transportation, just to name a few, will also be hosting voter drives across the city. Dept. of Homeless services will be hosting an afternoon event at a homeless shelter in the Bronx ensuring we represent everyone. Over 30 community based organizations have signed up to host a voter drive. Companies like Patagonia will be hosting voter registration drives at their retail stores through out the city.
The countdown: Confirm your day-of coordinator and contacts. Make sure you have your promotional plan in place. Such as when to post posters, flyers, distribute emails, and launch your social media campaign. Confirm logistics such as table set up, AV equipment, signage and banners, and make sure that everything is in place. Conduct a training with your volunteers and review their roles and responsibilities. Review ground rules and best practices with volunteers and staff. Review collecting forms policy and processing with volunteers.
Prep materials Make sure you have voter forms and materials ready to go and shipped out if you are working with other organizations Get in touch with election board for voter registration forms Have more pens, clipboards, and forms than you think is needed Have water for volunteers if outside Print more posters or stickers (avery template) from the web
Event Logistics Create a day-of checklist and event rundown Get contact #s for all volunteers and send a reminder about the event and share format, call time, and logistics
Keeping track of forms Keeping voter registration forms safe and secure is one of the most important considerations of the day Establish a system of collecting and securing forms throughout the day Don t allow volunteers to go home with forms Turn in forms to appropriate election office within 48 hours
Recruitment
APAPA About APAPA.org As a grassroots, community-based, non-profit, non-partisan organization, APAPA focuses on increasing API civic participation at the local, state, and national level through voter registration and education, civic leadership programs. We have 25 chapters nation-wide now. Prior work Confirming the locations you want to have Voter Registration stations. Having your volunteers to sign up for the locations, and the shifts. Plans for NVRD 2018 Travis County is the most registered urban county in Texas now, we have 90% of citizens in voting age have registered. We are planning to have 5 locations, 3 two hours shifts in each location, and two volunteers for each shift.
Recruiting volunteers Recruit volunteers connected to your organization as well as others in your community Retired teachers and state employees are passionate about voting Recruit volunteers that can speak the language of your intended audience Pair volunteers up to work in teams put a more experienced volunteer with a less experienced volunteer Only expect volunteers to do 1 or 2 hour shifts
Training volunteers What to include in a training: Who can register in your state How to fill out forms and required fields Where to look for common mistakes Staying nonpartisan Who to call if questions come up Script training and role play Time for Q&A Staying nonpartisan means: No advocating on behalf of a candidate or ballot measure Keep messages positive Target people, not parties
Talking to voters Use positive messages and urgency to get voters excited and interested Messages for immigrants and new voters: Vote if you feel things are unfair Every vote counts, especially in local elections As immigrants, we come to this country for our dreams. Vote for the next generation.
What s next?
Share your story! On the morning of September 25 th you ll receive a link to a survey After your event, report back to us about How many people you registered How many volunteers you mobilized Who you partnered with Share your photos! We use this information to prepare for the next year, bring in funding, and demonstrate that when we work together, we can register all voters!